thirty six
"Who wants to go for a walk?" Michael asks as he walks from the bathroom to the living room.
Luke looks down at his watch—a watch that is too big for his slim writs. "It's midnight, Michael."
Michael grabs his light jacket from the back of the couch. "What's your point?"
"We could get murdered or kidnapped or raped. It's New York City!"
Mike rolls his eyes, "If any of those terrible things were to happen, it would've happened by now. Either of you wanna go for a walk or am I doing this alone?"
Jack shrugs, "I don't want to put on pants."
Luke looks at the younger boy with concerned eyes, "You're not wearing pants?" He stands up, sliding out from their shared blanket, "I hate both of you, both of you need to stop doing that."
Michael grabs Luke's jacket, tossing it at him. "You're up, now you have to go for a walk."
He sighs, accepting he wasn't getting out of this. "Let me get my pepper spray."
Mike walks in front of the television, blocking the show Luke and Jack have been binge watching. "Are you going to be okay alone for about half an hour?"
"Duh."
"Will you stay out of trouble?"
Jack licks over his lips and laughs, "Possibly."
Michael reached over, quickly running his hand through his younger brother's hair to mess it up. He sprinted away before Jack could punch him in the lower region. It's a brother thing.
Luke took Michael's hand after making sure at least one of them had a key. They headed out into the brisk city, not saying much for a few blocks.
"I'm sorry I've been a bit of a dick," Michael says quietly. He slows down his pace, rocking their entwined hands back and forth in the space between them.
Luke doesn't know how to respond. Michael made him so loss for words.
"It's just that," he pauses with a sigh, "you make me feel something that I'm so scared of." Their walk stops as he presses the button to signal the lights, giving them a few seconds of silence as they wait for the flashing light to give them the O.K. to cross the street.
They do just that, now heading towards their work and into the heart of the city.
"I care about you, I think I love you."
Luke has been thinking of Michael as his significant other for a few months now. When he thought of Michael, 'boyfriend' matched up in his mind. Hearing this wasn't a surprise to Luke, he couldn't help his heart beating faster or his breathing picking up. "Oh."
"It's taken me all this time to realize that I don't want to be alone. I've lived two and a half decades alone, I've got a good few decades left and I don't want to be alone. I don't want to be alone, Luke, I don't want to be alone."
"Oh," Luke says once more. They're walking in the cold air, a few groups of people passing them. "Well, all right."
"I understand if you don't feel the same way, you're a lot different than me and—."
Luke abruptly stops. Michael turns around as his hand is pulled back by Luke's weight. "You think I don't feel the same? Are you serious, Michael?"
"What? Of course I'm serious, I'm not gonna expect you—."
"I'm purely in love with you, Michael. I don't love a lot of things in life—I don't love a lot of things about life. If I'm sure of one thing, it's that I'm completely obsessed with you." Luke didn't recognize the voice coming out of his mouth. It was his head speaking for him, it was everything he's been too afraid to speak.
